Baillie Gifford & Co. Sells 50,619 Shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. $NEE

Key Points

• Baillie Gifford & Co. cut its stake in NextEra Energy by 19.6%, selling 50,619 shares in Q4 and leaving 207,039 shares valued at $16.62 million per its recent SEC filing.
• Insiders sold 190,816 shares over the last quarter (about $17.08 million), leaving corporate insiders with just 0.18% ownership.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with a $94.94 price target (several firms raised targets to as high as $98), and NextEra increased its quarterly dividend to $0.6232 ($2.49 annualized, ~2.7% yield).

Baillie Gifford & Co. cut its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) by 19.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 207,039 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 50,619 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co.'s holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $16,621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in NextEra Energy during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Strive Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in NextEra Energy during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Rexford Capital Inc. bought a new stake in NextEra Energy during the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management raised its holdings in NextEra Energy by 108.2% during the third quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 456 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the period. 78.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NEE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Argus set a $92.00 price target on NextEra Energy and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on NextEra Energy from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners decreased their price target on NextEra Energy from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $94.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Terrell Kirk Crews II sold 19,672 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.27, for a total transaction of $1,775,791.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 73,857 shares in the company, valued at $6,667,071.39. This trade represents a 21.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Ronald R. Reagan sold 18,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $1,675,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 9,643 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $867,870. The trade was a 65.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 190,816 shares of company stock valued at $17,075,619. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NextEra Energy Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of NextEra Energy stock opened at $92.33 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $192.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $92.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $63.64 and a twelve month high of $96.21.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. NextEra Energy had a return on equity of 12.18% and a net margin of 24.93%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.6232 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. This is a positive change from NextEra Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. NextEra Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.68%.

About NextEra Energy

NextEra Energy, Inc NYSE: NEE, headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida, is a leading clean energy company with both regulated utility operations and competitive renewable generation businesses. The company's principal operating subsidiaries include Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), a regulated electric utility serving customers in Florida, and NextEra Energy Resources, which develops, constructs, owns and operates a large portfolio of wind, solar and energy storage projects. Together these businesses provide electricity supply, transmission and distribution services as well as utility-scale renewable generation and related services.

NextEra's activities cover the full lifecycle of power assets, from project development and construction to operation, maintenance and asset optimization.

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